DEN Open (Apr 2023)

A case of multiple glucagonomas with no clinical manifestations of excess glucagon despite hyperglucagonemia

  • Shogo Amano,
  • Shigeyuki Suenaga,
  • Kaori Hamamoto,
  • Shoko Yada,
  • Takanori Tsuyama,
  • Shuhei Shinoda,
  • Yuya Tanaka,
  • Yoshihiro Takemoto,
  • Eijiro Harada,
  • Katsuya Tanabe,
  • Shunichiro Asahara,
  • Kazunobu Hoshii,
  • Taro Takami

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/deo2.230
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 3, no. 1
pp. n/a – n/a

Abstract

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Abstract Herein we report the case of a patient with multiple glucagonomas that have been precisely described with endoscopic ultrasound. A 36‐year‐old woman was referred to our hospital for computed tomography investigation of multiple pancreatic masses. Physical examination was unremarkable; on contrast‐enhanced computed tomography, mass lesions were evident in the head, body, and tail of the pancreas. The mass in the pancreatic head was poorly demarcated and exhibited a faint contrast effect, the one in the pancreatic body was a cystic lesion, and the one in the pancreatic tail was hypervascular. Blood investigations showed that serum glucagon was abnormally high at 7670 pg/ml; glucose tolerance was not impaired. There was no family history that suggested multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 or von Hippel‐Lindau disease. Endoscopic ultrasound revealed that there were additional masses, which were scattered isoechoic to hyperechoic lesions a few millimeters in size. Ultrasound‐guided fine needle biopsy of the lesion in the pancreatic tail resulted in a diagnosis of a neuroendocrine tumor. Based on these pathologic findings, we performed a total pancreatectomy. A large number of nodules with tumor cells were evident in all cut surfaces of the surgical specimen. Immunostaining was positive for chromogranin A and glucagon, and glucagonoma was therefore diagnosed. It is conceivable that attenuated glucagon action could have contributed to the development of the multiple glucagonomas.

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